Random’s Comments (group member since Apr 30, 2009)

Random’s comments from the Beyond Reality group.

I know what you mean about the narrator for Warbreaker. It didn't sit very well with me either. You might consider the version from Graphic Audio. I borrowed it from a friend and it was so much better. (Graphic audio books are more acted than straight read but there are still very few changes in the text and the quality is superb.)

I'm just pulling these from memory, I'm not at home and so don't have access to my library, but here are some that I remember as being very well done.

The Vorkosigan books by Lois McMaster Bujold. There are a few different readers depending on where you get the audio books. Blackstone Audio (which is what Audible has) has Grover Gardner and he's pretty good. The Reader's Chair (produced audio cassets) has the team of Michael Hanson and Carol Cowan which were even better. I have a thing for deep male voices and Michael Hanson's voice can give me the shivers. :)

Anathem by Neal Stephenson. One of my top books for last year. I also liked the reader for Snowcrash.

All of Terry Pratchet's Discworld series. There are two primary readers you can run across for this series, Nigel Planer and Stephen Briggs. Both do a great job. Stephen Briggs is the voice of Discworld in my mind anymore. Another series where my preferred format is audio.

I remember liking the reader for the Connie Willis books I read last year, The Doomsday Books and To Say Nothing of the Dog, but the details are somewhat vague.

The Commonwealth series by Peter F. Hamilton (Pandora's Star and Judas Unchained) also had an excellent reader.

That's all I can remember at the moment. I'll post more if I remember any others.

Bookbrow wrote: "When do you decide when a book is not for you...for me at is at the 100 page mark. The easy part is if the book is - how do you say it, not a classic then you turf it. I usually just hand it in for..."

Whenever it has annoyed me enough. :) There's no hard rule as to when I'll put one down.

I can only remember two times where I've forced myself to finish a book that I wasn't enjoying (not counting required reading for school).

Shel wrote: "I didn't know about the new Friedman trilogy, either, so I'll probably keep an eye out for that. I *loved* her Coldfire trilogy."

IMO her Magister Trilogy is even better than Coldfire. I'll be buying the 3rd one as soon as its available, even if it means hardback and using one of my limited physical book purchases. :)

Kerry wrote: "I'm reading it now. I just struggle to get through the beginning when a certain character totally screws things up. I like him and hate watching him make such a spectacular mess. But I've always lo..."

I'm having the same issue. I see impending doom on the horizon and it just makes me cringe. It doesn't help that I have an idea what happens from the later books in the series.

Currently reading. Amazingly enough, I've never read this one before. I'd always end up putting it down after the first couple of chapters.

This is one of my all time favorite books and I can't believe I haven't had the time to even pick it up again let alone participate in any discussions. Between the holidays and work I haven't even read anything since November.

Anyway, I thought I'd briefly mention a few themes in the book which stand out to me.

One is the value of age. Ofelia quite clearly showed hew value to her community and in later events even though she was too old to be considered productive anymore.

Also is the value of the personal. I was tickled how she went through the official logs of the colony and added personal information to all of the events it mentioned.

A third is solitude. We put so much pressure on people to socialize all of the time. It is as if people think something is wrong with you if you enjoy spending time alone.
Tied up with this is an escape from conformity.


And a quick aside....the scene where she first meets the aliens when they have come in from the storm. When she made them mop the floor they had tracked water all over I about died. It is something my mother would do. :D

Cheryl wrote: "Thankfully, he's not cute and cuddly (can't stand those "vampires"), but I don't remember any good explanation as to why humanity brought these things back and why Sarasti is so indispensable as the leader on this mission. Just because he's smart? There's a lot of smart people."

It's because the "vampires" think much differently than the rest of humanity. Its not that they're smarter than us, but they are capable of the kind of thought processes that humans, no matter how intelligent, just cannot perform.

Baen has been very ebook friendly for a number of years now. The first publisher I've run across that has been so.

I really appreciate how they often will have first books available for free. You can try before you commit to the entire series. :)

My husband used to like the Honor Harrington books and one of the hard backs came with all of the books up to that point in ebook format. If I'm remembering correctly, it even included a note to feel free to share them with others. I always purchase from them when possible.

Stefan wrote: "I liked Ethan as a character, although I thought he lost his naivete a bit too quickly to be realistic. Elli Quinn acted more or less like a female and cute version of Miles, so in that sense the novel had the same feel as some of the other books."

I suspect the speed at which Ethan lost his naivete may have been to just keep the plot moving. We didn't have a lot of time for him to get up to speed.

I adored Elli. No, she isn't Miles but she is a quick understudy. I found it amusing when she admitted it was her first mission. :)

For anyone who may have missed it, she tossed in a reference to this adventure in Cetaganda with a reference of Terrence Cee and its recovery.

Ron wrote: "Well, I'm just getting started, and it seems to me the premise is patently ridiculous: using reproductive tech to maintain a planet without women."

Any more ridiculous than quaddies, herms, clones, pretty much all of Cetaganda, etc. That's not even counting the kind of things that come out of Jackson's Hole.

The reproductive tech is standard in this universe. "Natural" birth is considered somewhat barbaric, so the tech has been set as long established and the preferred method of reproduction for quite a long time now.

Sisimka wrote: "I didn't get the feeling that the crew was expendable, although they did have 'backups' which was interesting. I think they were chosen for their disabilities. Interesting representation of the h..."

I wouldn't say they were chosen for their disabilities. I'd say they were chosen for their abilities, which happen to be augmented due to the disabilities.

Just finished and I really liked it.

Interesting post. Reading a bit between the lines I got the impression she didn't like it because it wasn't like the others she had read.

One complaint mentioned was that we knew Miles would get out of the mess ahead of time. That's a bit silly IMO. Of course he gets out of it. These are adventure stories. The hero always finds the way. The fun is in seeing how he manages to do it. :)

BTW - I ran across the book's web page last night. Some neat stuff in there. I can't promise there aren't any spoilers however.

http://www.rifters.com/blindsight/BS_...

Rest assured, Saristy is not one of those cringe worthy vampires. No penetrative sexual symbolism, no sparkles, etc. :)

I'm a little over half way through it at the moment and so far I'm loving the tone and the main character's perspective.

Ack! Life has been so hectic recently that I haven't hardly had a chance to participate with one of my favorites.

Anyway, I personally would concentrate less on comparing the different cultures to current day equivalents. Obviously there are influences but I personally would want to avoid judging them by anything other than their own merits.

I find the inner workings of the Cetaganda Empire fascinating, especially the balance of power between the male and female hout. Miles even wonders that they see themselves as hout first, gender second.

I do wish we could have seem the third cast, the average population. I'm really curious what their lives might be like.

Oh, if I remember right, I believe I read something where Bujold mentioned she once considered an idea where Ivan was given a hout wife. I can just imagine the disaster coming out of that one. :)

It has been ages since I read those. From what I remember, the first couple of books were gripping enough to cause a few all night reading sessions. After that not so much so. They fell into too much of a formula and I lost interest.

Jim wrote: "I love that the Dynamic Duo are together again. "

Ha! I never thought of that description. I love it. :)

I have to admit, Ivan is my favorite secondary character in the series.

Cetaganda is one of my favorites in the series. I've already finished the reread.